"Archangel Who?" I hear you ask. Archangel Orion is relatively new on the scene, he's pretty much the hipster angel. You know, the angel you were working with before he was mainstream? By starting to work with him today you'll have the chance in your next life to roll your eyes at everyone when they tell you about the "new" Archangel Orion. You can be like - "Oh please, seriously, I was working with him in my last life you guys..."

Anyway, this isn't a post about future lives, we're here today to talk about Archangel Orion. Just hold up a sec while we remember what angels actually are. Angels are light beings, right? I mean, let's face it, we don't totally know what they are, we just know that they are energy, really high vibe good helpful energy that you can call on to help you. When peeps saw angels way back in the olden days they mistook their light for wings. I'm not even joking, angels don't really have wings - OMG freak out! But then angels were like - OK, you think we have wings, we'll appear to you with wings so you know who we are!

I don't think about Archangel Orion as having wings, and if you do that's totally cool, like I said, they'll show themselves to you in any way that you'll understand them. But when I think of him I just see the stars, I see the entire Universe and I feel this Galactic kind of energy. If you are a star person or into star people stuff you might find that you gravitate (ha, see what I did there?!) towards this angel even more.

Orion hasn't been working with our planet long enough (that we know of!) to have conformed with our current idea of 'angels'. He's new here, and he brings with him the big picture. He resides high above this Renaissance angel stuff and takes us to whole other planets! In fact, since I've been working with him I've had this amazing dream about being on another planet. It kind of looked like Russia but the colours were just incredible and there was a huge moon on the horizon, and another one higher in the sky... This angel won't just show you how to get your tax return done, he'll show you the whole fucking universe.

Sorry about the language mum, I know you read this.

Archangel Orion is the angel of manifestation. He will help you manifest great things for your life, but not boring earthly stuff like a new TV or extra cash. I asked him this morning to help me manifest new tarot clients. He responded with - Why? Why do I want new clients? Uh, because I like reading tarot and I like paying the bills? I was then guided to answer this question:

What do you really want to do while you are here on this planet?

Uh, OK this was all happening as I was driving in rush hour so I was kind of like - Hrm. I got to thinking about the big stuff. The big WHY?The big WHAT?

It wasn't about getting new clients at all. It was about what I want to do on this planet while I'm here. Well, I want to help people, I want to be happy and make other people happy. I want to have enough money and time to travel and see the world. He then took me through loads of other questions, prompting me with - what do you want in relationships? What do you want for your family life? I have to tell you by the end of it I was feeling a serious amount of awe, for like, everything.

Archangel Orion will pick you up out of your body for a moment (is this a good idea in traffic AA Ori?) and show you the big picture. He will help you get clear on what you want, why you want what you think you want and help you manifest from a distance of clarity. He won't get you that holiday in the Bahamas because maybe he knows that you'll come back to your 9 to 5 and nothing will have changed. He doesn't want to help you to do that. He wants to help you to do the big stuff, and you can't do the big stuff while you're thinking about the small stuff.

So how can we connect with the big O?!

<3 Ask him to work with you. Ask him to help you manifest your desires (not manifest your desires for you!)

<3 Let him take you out of yourself and ask you the big questions

<3 Answer the big WHY and the big WHAT without focus on the little details. Don't tell him what job you think you want, just tell him how you want to help the world, and how you want to feel about it

<3 Light dark blue candles

<3 Play with crystals like dark blue sandstone or Peacock Ore or any other crystals you see that remind you of him, of the enormity of the universe

<3 Paint your fingernails dark blue with gold glitter

<3 Look at the stars and stand in awe

<3 Ask for him to take you to beautiful places and other planets in your dreams

<3 Consider your life in the grand scheme of things and ask yourself - does it really matter that I didn't finish that blog post tonight?

<3 Work with Kyle Gray's Oracle Deck that features Archangel Orion (and so many other great cards!) and meditate on his card, or just leave it out by your bedside as you sleep to bring his energy into your life

<3 Do anything else that makes you feel connected to the big picture, the Universe and your heart's true desires.

Please share your Archangel Orion experiences here in the comments or over on Facebook. He's such a new angel here and we will all benefit from sharing our knowledge and understanding of him so that many more of us can begin to live bigger and more meaningful lives! I know I'm just starting to work with him so I will be sharing any new info I get too!

As an airy fairy air sign (Gemini) who quite literally goes 'off with the fairies', or angels, or just I don't even know where sometimes, grounding myself has been one of the most beneficial things I've worked out how to do. It has made the most amazing difference in how I'm able to connect to my higher self and intuition.

For years I've been floating away. I always had about a gazillion ideas at a time, and with a joyful adventurous spirit this meant I was always doing things like booking international flights on a whim, dating highly inappropriate men, not being able to hold down or have any interest in a real job, and creative projects? Don't even get me started. I had so many I couldn't even tell you them all - I was selling jewelry on Etsy, learning guitar, writing songs, writing Tween fiction, starting and deleting various blogs, acting in short films, dabbling with all sorts of spiritual and religious ideas and I was always out drinking and dancing. So OK, I still do a lot of these things, but now I do them differently. I only go on holidays I can actually afford, I am holding down a real job while I build my business and work on getting my YA novel published and I still enjoy the odd beer. But I feel better. I feel grounded.

What is grounding?

To me grounding is about centering your energy so that it stays in your body and connected to the earth, rather than floating off up and away somewhere else. It's like when you're driving you want your tyres to be on the road right? Not bouncing around like a 4X4 on a bunch of sand dunes.

I was talking to the bf about grounding - he's one of the most grounded people I know - and I while I was trying to explain why I needed to stay grounded and why it was hard sometimes I described it as my energy sometimes feeling like it's slightly higher than my body. Sometimes it feels like my head is kind of above my head!

Berkshire forest fairies

What happens when we're not grounded?

Not being grounded is different for everyone, but some things that happen to me when I'm not grounded are:

<3 Feeling like you're 'miles away' or 'off with the fairies' at inappropriate times (it's OK to be off with the fairies sometimes!)

<3 Feeling lightheaded

<3 Not being able to focus on stuff

<3 Not being able to make or follow through on decisions or plans

<3 Getting sidetracked

<3 Having a lot of awesome ideas but never being able to start, follow through or finish anything

<3 Feeling hyperactive or like you just have too much energy buzzing around you

<3 Feeling anxious and worried

<3 Feeling like your head is above your head!

<3 Zoning out

<3 Racing thoughts, crazy thoughts, random thoughts, or just the general inability to control your thoughts

<3 That feeling like you've had way too much sugar

<3 Being indecisive and 'whatever' about anything from choosing your dinner to finding your new flat

<3 You generally feel like you aren't connected to the earth, nature or this planet

<3 You feel like you are from another planet! (Even Star People need to be grounded!)

I come from a different planet

How will grounding help?

Getting grounded makes you more certain, solid, connected and gives you emotional, spiritual and energetic strength! Think of it as wearing a pair of super comfortable shoes you know you can walk all day in and they look great. Being ungrounded is like wearing flip flops in the middle of winter and being grounded is like wearing a pair of the most comfortable wedge boots ever!

Grounding will will make you feel more centered, and when you start getting your energy centered you start getting more messages from your body, spirit and your higher self.

I know you want to be up there with the Heavens and the Angels getting your guidance first hand, but the reality is that we are on this earth and we need a landline. You can't use your iPhone on a plane (maybe you can if you go first/business class but that ruins my metaphor!), so think of grounding as your landline. The more grounded you are the clearer your signal will be!

grounding crystals

That's great Vix, but HOW do you get grounded?

There's a gazillion ways you can get grounded and you really have to find out what works for you by just trying different stuff, but here's what works for me:

<3 Visualisations - I've used loads of visuals from imagining that my legs are super long and my feet are firmly far below in the earth to the super common imagining tree roots coming out of your feet, growing into the ground and then attaching themselves to a rock or a crystal. I love this one - for a fun twist I imagine golden roots and whatever crystal I feel like I need that day - e.g. I'll tie my golden roots around a huge Citrine crystal if I need an optimistic boost, or Amethyst if I'm going to be doing a lot of tarot.

<3 Balance your chakras - there are a ton of meditations on chakra balancing on the internet, or if you know what you're doing chakra-wise just check in with your chakras, make sure they're balanced and your energy is properly in your body.

<3 Go outside! Hug a tree or take off your shoes and walk on the grass/sand/earth.

<3 Bring pot plants and fresh flowers into your house and add a bunch of earthy-energy!

<3 Crystals! All crystals come from the ground so they are all grounding, but some are super grounding, mostly the black ones like Obsidian and Tourmaline but I also love Dalmatian jasper - it's grounding but a nice joyful stone too.

<3 Meditate. If you are like me and sometimes find this difficult you can get some really nice short guided meditations to help you through. I love Kyle Gray's Angel Meditations and 33 Spirit Journeys by Denise Linn.

<3 Eat food from the earth - not being grounded is a great excuse to eat a baked potato. Not sure how grounding a truck load of butter is though, sorry!

<3 Talk to the fairies and nature spirits. Just saying hi to them can get you more in touch with the earth.

<3 Recycle and make a conscious effort to look after the planet that is our home.

<3 Spend time with animals. Cats are so grounding! Meow!

<3 Wear earthy or dark colours - anything that reminds you of nature.

<3 Paint your nails an earthy colour!

<3 Exercise! Spend time in your body, and you don't just have to do Yoga. You can walk, run, dance, go to the gym, swim, whatever works for you.

<3 Spend some time with the Earth/Coins/Pentacles suit in your Tarot or Angel Tarot deck to soak in the earthy energy.

<3 Choose to be grounded. Sometimes when I'm feeling weird and don't have time for all this stuff or if I've just accidentally eaten 4 donuts or something I just say out loud if I can, or in my head- "I am grounded" and even that alone makes a world of difference.

Angel Tarot - Nine of Earth, Ace of Earth

I would love to know what you do to stay grounded! Join me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and share your own tips for grounding!

I've listened to this song so many times but I never knew it was about angels and star-ships until I heard the lyrics for the first time this morning!

<3

I'm sailing away, set an open course for the virgin sea I've got to be free, free to face the life that's ahead of me On board, I'm the captain, so climb aboard We'll search for tomorrow on every shore And I'll try, oh Lord, I'll try to carry on

I look to the sea, reflections in the waves spark my memory Some happy, some sad I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had We live happily forever, so the story goes But somehow we missed out on that pot of gold But we'll try best that we can to carry on

A gathering of angels appeared above my head They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said They said come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me

I thought that they were angels, but to my surprise They climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies Singing come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me